Lakes in West Africa

Stretching from Atlantic coastal countries such as Senegal in the west to the dense jungles of Cameroon in the east, West Africa is a region that struggles with water shortage. Coupled with the desert climate on the border with the Sahara, West Africa's typically low-lying terrain is not as conducive to lake formation in the same way that East Africa is dominated by the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, most West African lakes pass into popular consciousness not through their scale or majesty but through natural disasters or environmental calamity.